Fall is a great season for sporting events and Price Chopper and Unilever want to help you throw a great Game Day tailgate party while taking advantage of great fuel savings!  This week, you can save up to $1 off per gallon of gas when you purchase $25 or more of participating Unilever Products.  Check out our Ad for a list of great items including Ragu Pasta Sauces, Wish Bone Salad Dressings, Dove Soaps and Body Wash, and so much more!  What an easy way to save money at the tank!  How do you and your family spend ‘Game Days’?  Are there certain traditions that you have such as gathering together to watch your favorite teams on television, or making tons of finger foods for your family and friends? We want to know how you prepare for and spend these Game Days!  In our Ad this week, you will find a great deal on Breyers and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream—why not kick off the game season with ‘make your own sundaes’ with your kids!  Don’t forget to tell us about your Game Day traditions; five lucky winners will be chosen to each win $100 in Price Chopper gift certificates!  Post your traditions and stories on our blog and under the corresponding Facebook post to be entered by 10:00 am EST on September 2, 2011! Winners will be notified by email. Price Chopper and Unilever Game Day Contest Official Rules Fall is a great season for sporting events and Price Chopper and Unilever want to help you throw a great Game Day tailgate party while taking advantage of great fuel savings!  This week, you can save up to $1 off per gallon of gas when you purchase $25 or more of participating Unilever Products.  Check out our Ad for a list of great items including Ragu Pasta Sauces, Wish Bone Salad Dressings, Dove Soaps and Body Wash, and so much more!  What an easy way to save money at the tank!  How do you and your family spend ‘Game Days’?  Are there certain traditions that you have such as gathering together to watch your favorite teams on television, or making tons of finger foods for your family and friends? We want to know how you prepare for and spend these Game Days!  In our Ad this week, you will find a great deal on Breyers and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream—why not kick off the game season with ‘make your own sundaes’ with your kids!  Don’t forget to tell us about your Game Day traditions; five lucky winners will be chosen to each win $100 in Price Chopper gift certificates!  Post your traditions and stories on our blog and under the corresponding Facebook post to be entered by 10:00 am EST on September 2, 2011! Winners will be notified by email. Price Chopper and Unilever Game Day Contest Official Rules

Written by Sylvia Geiger MS, RD, CD, Price Chopper Community Nutritionist

As a Price Chopper In-Store Community Nutritionist, every week I meet many people who tell me that they’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes.  Unfortunately, this is no surprise, as over 21 million people have the disease and another 54 million are considered “pre-diabetic.” Fortunately though, many of the symptoms of diabetes can be managed with diet and exercise and at Price Chopper we offer many services for our customers with diabetes.

Just what is diabetes? “Diabetes mellitus (MEL-ih-tus), or simply, diabetes, is a group of diseases characterized by high blood glucose levels that result from defects in the body’s ability to produce and/or use insulin,” as defined by the American Diabetes Association.  Type I Diabetes requires daily insulin injections and dietary management and is often diagnosed at an early age. Type II diabetes generally occurs later in life and can usually be managed with lifestyle modifications (diet & exercise) along with oral medication. Gestational Diabetes only occurs during pregnancy and requires close medical supervision.

Being diagnosed with diabetes can be scary, and requires proper medical supervision as well as medication.  People diagnosed with diabetes will most likely need to make some lifestyle changes. However, millions of people with diabetes live happy and fulfilling lives once they’ve learned to manage their illness through diet, exercise and medication. Most people with diabetes know that they have to limit sweets and foods with lots of added sugars or refined grains, but beyond that there is a lot of confusion about what people with diabetes can or can’t eat.  For more information, check out Price Chopper’s resources for those living with diabetes.

Diabetes Friendly Meal Using this week’s Sale Items Chipotle & Orange Chicken  Served over Brown Rice Or A Gilding of Shrimp & Saffron Rice And Green Salad with Goat Cheese And Fresh Bartlett Pears or Strawberries [slideshow]

Guest post by Kimberly Houser PharmD, RPh

As summer comes to a close and kids head back to school, it’s time to start thinking about getting your seasonal flu shot. Price Chopper Pharmacists are ready to provide you with this essential immunization again this flu season.

The flu virus most commonly causes mild symptoms which tend to include: fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headache, body aches, chills, and fatigue. More importantly, the flu virus is associated with complications that may include hospitalization and even death. Therefore, it is very important to receive your flu vaccine to help prevent illness and the associated complications.

The seasonal flu vaccine is now recommended for anyone over the age of six months. It also provides protection against the H1N1 virus. It takes about 14 days after vaccination before you are protected, so don’t wait!

Stop by your local Price Chopper Pharmacy to receive your flu shot today and prepare yourself for this upcoming season before it is too late! Visit our Price Chopper Website to see which locations have clinics scheduled.

Written by Sylvia Geiger MS, RD, CD, Price Chopper Community Nutritionist

It seems like I’ve opened a Bed & Breakfast this summer—every week my house has been full with out- of- town guests. But I enjoy being a host, and I like to share my home and make my guests feel welcome by cooking for them.  However, some houseguests come with special dietary needs, and understanding some basics about their food requirements goes a long way in making everyone comfortable.  Next week I’ll have a visitor who has celiac disease, and I want to make their stay easy, comfortable and enjoyable. I’m planning on having some gluten-free foods on-hand for them to graze on and my menus will be gluten-free or have some alternatives that they can enjoy.  This allows family meals to be enjoyed together without singling out anyone based on what they can or can’t eat.

People who have celiac disease are usually very knowledgeable about what foods contains gluten, so be sure to ask them for some ideas for stocking your fridge.  Here are some basics for those who are new to gluten-free cooking.  For starters, people with celiac disease cannot eat any foods that contain gluten because it causes severe gastrointestinal immune reactions that can make them very sick.

Gluten foods are any foods that have wheat, barley or rye in them or that have ingredients that include wheat, barley or rye. Oats don’t contain gluten but are usually processed in plants that may be contaminated with wheat—so ask your guest or avoid oat-containing foods as well!

 9 Ideas for Accommodating Your Gluten-free Guest

  1. Plan ahead and read ingredient lists on food packages.  Many processed foods contain hidden gluten.  Be sure to check soups, soup stock, rice mixes or premade sauces to see if they contain gluten. This is a case of “when in doubt—leave it out.”  Your guest will appreciate your effort.
  2. Call or email your in-store Price Chopper Registered Dietitian with any gluten-free question.  They can be reached at Price Chopper Registered Dietitians
  3. Use our Price Chopper gluten-free foods list when shopping for your guest.  It will take out the guesswork about what does or doesn’t contain gluten. Gluten-free foods at Price Chopper
  4. Fruits and vegetables are naturally gluten-free—so have plenty on hand for snacking.
  5. Rice, wild rice, corn and quinoa are gluten-free foods. Price Chopper does sell several different brands of gluten-free pasta.
  6. Meat, fish and chicken are also gluten-free, but some cold cuts do contain wheat starch as binders.  Ask our teammates in deli to direct you to our Gluten-free selections.
  7. Milk, cheese and most yogurts are gluten-free although some ice creams & yogurts may have modified food starch, which contains wheat. Avoid those.
  8. Want a beverage to complement your meal? Remember that Beer and Malt containing beverages have gluten, but wine doesn’t.
  9. We sell several brands of gluten-free breads, cookies, snacks and other foods.  One of our teammates will be happy to help you with finding any !

Simple Gluten-free Menu Ideas Made with this week’s sale items

Steamed Mussels in Tomato Broth

Or

Flank Steak with Peach, Plum and Nectarine Salsa

with

Balsamic and Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Brown or White Rice

Or

Roasted Red Potatoes

Try some fresh cut fruit for dessert!

[slideshow]

Guest post by Kathy from Albany, NY

**If you have a family tradition or favorite dish that you would like to feature on our blog, we encourage you to send your ideas to photos@pricechopper.com.  You don’t need to be a blogger to write a guest post for our blog!**

My youngest daughter recently celebrated her 25th birthday.  As I was making her traditional birthday cake – the dirt cake – I began to think about the past 24 dirt cakes & how this tradition has become important in our family.  She was born in the summer, so birthdays were always celebrated by the pool.  On her 2nd birthday, in addition to a regular cake, we surprised her with the Flower Pot Dirt Cake.  The cake was an instant hit among the adults as well as the children. From that year on, the Dirt Cake has always been a part of her birthday celebration!  Although you can make this cake anytime, for our family  we look forward to this cake on her birthday.  Hopefully, I will be making Dirt Cake for my “little girl”  for many years to come, and maybe this tradition will be passed on to my grandchildren!!

Dirt Cake Recipe Crush Oreos in food processor.  Use about half of the  mixture for the bottom of the flower pot or pan. Combine cream cheese, margarine & powdered sugar. In separate bowl, make the pudding & fold in the whipped topping. Fold together the cream cheese & the pudding mixture. Pour mixture into flour pot or pan & cover with the remaining crushed oreos. Add the gummy worms & flowers if you like. Refrigerate & Enjoy!

Price Chopper is happy to announce the launch of our Winning 4 Education program!   Winning 4 Education is our new program which raises money for registered schools through the Box Tops for Education program!  Starting on August 8th, customers will be able to register for this great program and start earning Bonux Box Tops for their Box Tops for Education Registered school.  Since 1996, Box Tops for Education has earned more than $400 million for America’s Box Top for Education registered schools and Price Chopper is excited to support the program in our stores.  Customers can go to www.winningforeducation.com to register for Winning 4 Education with their respective Box Top for Education registered school and AdvantEdge card.  When customers buy any participating General Mills Box Top product during a promotional window, they will automatically earn Bonus Box Tops towards their Box Top for Education school!  The Bonus Box Tops will be added right at the register.  Customers can still clip Box Tops and send them in for additional earnings. See www.boxtops4education.com for more details about the Box Tops for Education Program!

Price Chopper welcomes Box Tops for Education as an addition to our three other education savings programs; UPromise, Tools for Schools, and eLabels for Education.  Below is a refresher on how our other school savings programs work!

UPromise–   Customers gain money towards college education through exclusive coupons and discounts on groceries.  Learn more and sign up with your AdvantEdge card at pricechopper.com! Tools for Schools– From July 31st through March 31st, customers will be able to earn points towards educational equipment for their respective schools.  This year, Price Chopper is asking everyone to reenroll in the program either in store at Guest Services or at pricechopper.com with their AdvantEdge card.  Remember, every dollar you spend at Price Chopper earns you one point towards educational equipment!!

eLabels for Education– Collect points for purchasing one of the sponsoring eLabels brands and earn money for your school!  Customers can sign up for this program at pricechopper.com or www.elabelsforeducation.com and start earning points electronically with their AdvantEdge card!

Remember, the best part about all of our school savings programs is that they can all be done using your AdvantEdge card!! Not only are you earning money and equipment for your schools, but you are also gaining fuel savings!!

Written by Sylvia Geiger MS, RD, CD, Price Chopper Community Nutritionist

I’ll be the first to admit it— I love my sweets and there is rarely a day when I don’t treat myself to some type of yummy dessert. Long ago, I stopped beating myself up about indulging my “sweet tooth.” Rather than fighting it and seeing it as a breach of willpower, I’ve learned to accept my cravings. In fact, research that shows that feeling satiated and satisfied with the food you eat is key to successful weight-loss and maintenance.  So rather than depriving myself, I’ve learned to work with my “sweet tooth” in a way that’s satisfying without breaking the calorie-bank.  Even when you are trying to lose weight, including and planning for a small treat will help you stay on track with your overall goal.

5 Ideas for Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth  

  1. Plan ahead. If you know that you crave a treat at 2 in the afternoon, have something that satisfies you on hand. Individual items such as a low-calorie Popsicle, a 100-calorie snack pack or a piece of fruit are better choices than candy or cookies where it’s hard to limit yourself to just one or two.
  2. Try Greek style yogurt to satisfy the yearning for the creamy mouth feel of high-fat ice cream or puddings.  Price Chopper carries several brands of low-fat Greek yogurts that have a rich & creamy mouth feel and most are less than 150 calories for a 6 oz. serving.
  3. Satisfy at least one of your daily sweet cravings with fruit—whatever is in season and whatever fruit you like best.   Give it a try; you’ll be surprised at how sweet fruit actually is.
  4. The power of small has big payoffs when it comes to eating sweets during weight loss or maintenance.  Rather than eating the whole thing, serve yourself a bite-size portion (1 ½ by 1 ½ inch) of a cake or bar dessert.  Or stock your freezer with small serving or 100 calories individually wrapped frozen novelties.
  5. Remember, we eat with our eyes first.   Individual portions served in stemware glasses or the “good china” usually reserved for holidays, adds to the mystique of the sweet indulgence and makes it feel special.

Simple Lower Calorie Desserts Made with this week’s sale items

Grilled Peaches with Berries

Cherries with Ricotta and Toasted Almonds

Sweet Snackin’ Pita Chips

Watermelon-Yougurt Ice

Frozen Yogurt Pops

Apple Slices with Yogurt Dip

Guest blog written by Lauren Greutman

Hello Chopper Shoppers! My name is Lauren Greutman, I am the wife of Mark and proud mommy of 3 adorable kids as well as the writer/editor behind the website www.iamthatlady.com.  I started my website after years of teaching couponing seminars as a way to help out a greater number of people. After moving back to Central New York from the South, Price Chopper has been the store that I shopped at the most.  It took me a few months to understand the ins and outs of how to save the most amount of money, and I have developed and learned many great couponing tips that I would love to share with you on how to get the most groceries for the least amount of money.

The first step is to know the Price Chopper Coupon policy.   Since it has recently changed, it has evened out the field, making it much easier for me as a blogger to report the good deals (however I do realize that many people have been upset by the change).  Price Chopper stores now double coupons up to 99¢ with your AdvantEdge card every day at EVERY Price Chopper Store.  This simply means that if you have a 75¢ off coupon, it will automatically scan and deduct $1.50 off that item.  There are 3 exclusions to this rule:

  1. When the item is less than the amount deducted, it will only deduct the amount of that item. They will not give you the overage.
  2. If the coupon says “Do Not Double” on the top of the coupon, the coupon will not be doubled.
  3. If you have reached the 50% rule, the coupon will not double. The 50% rule is highlighted in the Price Chopper coupon policy.  Basically it states that you cannot save over 50% off your bill with doubled coupons.

The first thing that I do every week when I get my sales flyer in my newspaper is look at the sales.   In my head I am trying to think if those items on sale have coupons that match up with them.  I then take a look at the produce and meat sales, trying to pair those with items I already have in my pantry.   I also make sure that I print off the Sunday Price Chopper Store coupons that are on their Facebook Page as well as their Thursday Store Coupons that are available on pricechopper.com every Thursday – Saturday. On my website www.iamthatlady.com, I do the coupon matchups every week for you.  I go through the ad, match up the items on sale with corresponding coupons, and even allow you to print off a customized shopping list right from my site.

I tell you each week what items you can get for FREE or cheap and even highlight those items in my weekly ‘Cooking with the FREE & Cheap’ recipe series. I start off my shopping list for the week based on the items that are on my list of free or close to free items, I call it my “FREE or Cheap” list. This list starts off my shopping list and meal plan for the whole week; I then fill in the blanks with the meats and produce on sale and create a menu plan for the week based on those items.   I get many of my coupons from printable coupons sites like coupons.com, smartsource.com, and the new SavingStar Program.  I also have a subscription to my local newspaper and use the coupons inside that paper.   I tend to buy a few extra newspapers every Sunday, because if something goes on sale and I can get it for FREE with a coupon, I don’t want just one of them, I want 4-6 of them. Price Chopper has great meat and dairy discounts early in the mornings at my local store.  When walking around the meat aisle you will see large stickers on select meat packages for $Dollars$ off that package.  Those packages are close to their expiration dates but as long as you use that that day or throw them in the freezer they are totally safe to eat.  We stock up on a lot of our meat that way. I plan out my grocery trip before I even set foot in the store; I have all of my coupons set aside in an envelope along with my shopping list and my menu plan for the week.   I do have my coupon binder with me just in case I see an unadvertised sale that I know I have a coupon for.  My first stop is always the Isave Machine – when you scan your Price Chopper Card it dispenses store and manufacturer coupons.I then stop at the pharmacy counter for possible coupons, many times they have fresh fruit and vegetable Price Chopper Store coupons.

It is not a secret that the prices of groceries are rising, research shows that 20% of what people buy are on the outside aisles of the grocery store, where the healthier items tend to be, the other 80% of their money goes to the things that are in the inner grocery store aisles.  My goal is to save as much money as I can in those inner aisles of the grocery store, so that I have more money to to spend on the healthier options around the outside of the store.  Not as many coupons come out for meat and fresh produce, so by cutting back the money that I spend on the items that I do get coupons for, I free up more money to spend on the fresh items.

When I walk into Price Chopper to do my shopping, it is quick and easy.   I have my grocery list that I printed from my website and my coupons set aside, and as I am going through the store and putting the items into my cart, I check those items off the grocery list. I usually stop at the end of my shopping trip to re-organize my coupons and make sure that everything I needed is in my cart.   I want to make the checkout as easy as possible, so organizing myself before I even get into the line is a must.  I hand them my Price Chopper card first, if I don’t do that first my coupons will not double.  After my items scan I hand over my coupons and my reusable shopping bags. Did you know that Price Chopper will deduct 3¢ off your order per reusable shopping bag that you bring? I save around 40-60% off my grocery bill every month by shopping at Price Chopper using coupons and shopping the sales, and my goal with iamthatlady.com is to help others do the same.

Here are some final tips on saving money at Price Chopper:
  1. Look for reduced produce stickers that can be found on packages of fresh fruits and vegetables – these are store coupons and can be used along with a manufacturer coupon.
  2. Keep your eyes peeled for in-store coupons, you can find them all over the store.  Many times they are stuck to the product itself, or on the shelves.
  3. Find out when your store has free sample carts out, not only do you get to try one of the great sample products in the store, but many times they have coupons for those products you can take along with your sample.
  4. Sign up for FREE Price Chopper Magazines mailed to your home that are full of Price Chopper Store and Manufacturer coupons. Sign up is FREE and easy!
Price Chopper and Planters are teaming up to bring you a “Naturally Remarkable Tour” with Mr. Peanut and his sustainable Nutmobile! Mr. Peanut‘s Nutmobile has been completely revamped! Not only does the peanut mobile have a new look, but also has a new eco-friendly design! The new Nutmobile runs on biodiesel fuel, has solar panels to charge its batteries, and much more! To find out more about Mr. Peanut’s sustainable Nutmobile visit the Clifton Park Shopper’s World and Loudon Price Chopper stores on Thursday, August 4, 2011 for a meet and greet with Mr. Peanut! Mr. Peanut will be at Shopper’s World from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM and Loudon from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. The event will also feature: Come see Mr. Peanut and his new sweet ride!